ALBANY TOWNSHIP – An elderly Greenwood man, who was reported missing early Tuesday morning, was found dead late Wednesday morning beside his damaged car in the White Mountain National Forest, State Trooper Lucas Hare said late Wednesday afternoon.
The body of Frederick Bayless, 77, was found off Patte Brook Road at about 11:38 a.m. on the snow- and ice-covered road by a man who was going to check his camp, Hare said.
“No foul play is suspected,” Department of Public Safety spokesman Steve McCausland said late Wednesday afternoon in Augusta.
Neither McCausland nor Hare, though, could say whether Bayless died from exposure, or from injuries sustained when his 2001 Buick sedan crashed into three trees.
Hare said police are waiting for the medical examiner to examine Bayless’s body to determine cause of death.
McCausland said it did not appear that Bayless was ejected from the car, which was facing east.
The accident scene was about 1 miles west of Route 5 on a gravel road that isn’t maintained during the winter, and at the bottom of an S-curve descending a ridge.
Hare said Bayless was reported missing at 1:20 a.m. Tuesday by family members.
According to McCausland, the Oxford County Sheriff’s Department in Paris said Tuesday that Bayless suffered from Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.
At the time, family members were concerned he was heading toward New Jersey, McCausland said. But, he added, police believe Bayless had gotten lost, because he was found 10 miles from his home.
Trooper Hare estimated damage to Bayless’ Buick at $5,000. It was towed by Gaudreau’s of Bethel.
Hare was assisted by state police Sgt. Donald Shead and Trooper Adam Fillebrown, and Oxford County Sheriff’s Deputy Chris Davis.
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